Empty Chairs at Empty Tables
by Aelie
Summary: MAJOR ANGST! Being the Queen of Angst, I would know. Ok, now Aelie is having to come to terms with some really difficult times. Pretty self explanitory.


Disclaimer: I don't own Empty Chairs at Empty Tables (Cameron Mackintosh does.), I don't own Once Upon a December (20th Century Fox does), and I don't own Gundam Wing or it's characters (a lot of others do.). I DO own Aelie, Sylvie, Jana, and Omega.

# Empty Chairs at Empty Tables

_Author's note: This is supposed to take place after the other pilots died protecting Earth from the baddies. Yes, Trowa and Aelie were married when he died. Terrans are a species that originally inhabited the Earth before the Humans came around. They can live thousands of years._

Aelie looked up at the mansion used as a frequent hiding place for the Gundams and their home after the war. Everything important in her life had happened here. She found her true identity as the youngest in the Winner family, she was reunited with her best friend, she had the lone birthday party in her life in the dining room, and Trowa had admitted his feelings and she had admitted hers. She slowly opened the door and peered inside. Nothing had been touched since that day. The day the rebellion was put down at the cost of 8 very precious lives.

_**There's a grief that can't be spoken.  
There's a pain goes on and on.**_

'Jana, my friend and mentor. Wufei, always making sure I was true to myself. The perfect mortal enemy.

_**Empty chairs at empty tables.  
now my friends are dead and gone.**_

Quatre, my sole brother, always so kind and loving. Duo, the jokester who hid behind his mask, but was always a pillar of strength.

**_Here they talked of revolution  
Here it was they lit the flame._ **

Omega, a trustworthy friend who understood my troubles, Relena, the one who died the unworthy death of a criminal.

_**Here they sang about tomorrow  
And tomorrow never came.**_

Heero, my best friend and confidant, the shoulder to cry all my troubles out on. And...and Trowa, my beloved Trowa, who loved me so unconditionally.'

_**From the table in the corner   
They could see a world reborn**_

Aelie ran her hand over the back of Quatre's favorite chair, remembering the way he would have tea with her so they could just revel in having each other's company. She then picked up Duo's small brush that he insisted on using every night. Aelie sighed and remembered sitting with her closest friends and brushing Duo's hair while holding a conversation with Trowa. Aelie flinched. Just thinking of his name hurt worse than the pain of losing all her friends and family in that battle. Seeing him slowly die of his wounds rather than instantly dying like the others was on the border of physical pain. She had so wanted the pain for herself, so he wouldn't have to suffer.

_**And they rose with voices ringing  
And I can hear them now**_

'Duo always did say that we live to die...it's more like to die and drive those left behind mad with grief. Especially when one dies slowly.' She thought of Trowa, lying in the hospital bed in obvious agony. Then she remembered why she had returned to the mansion again. Ever since that day, she had avoided returning, but something had been nagging at her mind.

_**The very words that they had sung  
Became their last communion**_

The dusty room had definitely seen better days. There was a glitter as a sunbeam hit a golden box. 'Abuéla's[1] music box.' Aelie thought as she picked up the small egg-shaped wonder. 'The only thing she left me.' Aelie fought the tears she felt welling up. She remembered the kind old woman, always willing to help anybody. She would always greet Aelie with a hug and made her feel welcome when the world would turn it's back on her. Abuéla had died in a surprise raid by OZ. The one who survived the Reckoning had died as a civilian, and not as the great warrior she was.

_**On the lonely barricade at dawn**_

Aelie held the box and gently placed the key and twisted. The haunting lullaby filled the room again. Then she noticed that there were now 3 figures in the box.[2] Lady Katherine, Calli, and "Abuéla?" Her suspicion was confirmed when the song began.

_On the wind,  
'cross the sea.  
Hear this song and remember.  
Soon you'll be home with me.  
Once upon a December._

The box slowly closed and Aelie barely noticed the tears streaming down her cheeks.

_**Oh my friends my friends forgive me  
That I live and you are gone**_

"Aelie, come on! We'll be late to the memorial service." Sylvie said gently. "Sylvie?" "Yes." "Do you think that they're in Heaven right now?" "You know, Aelie, I think they are. Heero's watching the rebellion and cursing his bad luck, Duo's probably off making mischief in the Heavens, Quatre's watching over Dorothy, Wufei's with Meiran again, Omega's probably slobbering over a cute angel, and... Trowa's watching over you right now."

_**There's a grief that can't be spoken,  
There's a pain goes on and on**_

At the memorial service, Aelie sat rigid and stoic, refusing to show an emotion in front of her sisters. When her turn came, she placed a rose on each casket, but at Duo's, she placed the music box's key. "Duo, I know that Abuéla would have wanted each of us to have a piece of the past. Here's the key to the universe." she whispered, knowing that he could hear her. She felt the sun warm up as if he was smiling, thrilled at his present. That's where Aelie broke down. As she kneeled down, the music box fell out of her hand and began playing the soft melody. Iria ran to help her smallest sister stand up and walk back to her car.

_**Phantom faces at the window  
Phantom shadows on the floor**_

"Iria, why did they have to be the ones to die? WHY THEM?!" Aelie shouted. Iria hugged the sobbing woman until she stopped convulsing. "Allah[4] decided that it was their time. When this war is over, you can begin healing." Aelie pushed herself out of her eldest sisters embrace. "You don't understand. You never will. They died to save me. I'm not worth saving. I didn't want to be the Fire Queen or Relena's decoy or a Terran or even a Gundam pilot! I wanted to live a normal life! I wanted to have children and grow old and eventually die with Trowa, not let him die protecting me! All of them were my soul and my life, and now, I have nothing to live for! NOTHING!" "Aelie, you can't blame yourself. You still have to lead the Terrans in this war now that Omega's gone. You are the only one who knows how to destroy the enemy! You have to-" "NO! I will not lead them! They've taken care of themselves for millennia! They still can!"

_**Empty chairs at empty tables   
where my friends will meet no more**_

"Aelie..." Aelie whirled around to face her 2nd oldest sister Jasmine. "Aelie, stop please. You can't bring them back by yelling at Iria. You have to destroy the enemy so they wouldn't have died in vain. That is your mission in life." Aelie looked at the ground. "Why couldn't I have died instead of them?" "Because only you can defeat the enemy. That's why."

**_Oh my friends my friends_** **_don't ask me   
What your sacrifice was for_**

Then she understood. They had known that. They had known that she was the key to victory. Only she could lead the Terrans and humans into battle and lead them back out alive. She returned to the now empty gravesite. There she knelt and looked at the headstones.

Omega Mancill

Jana Amber

Heero Yuy ('So, they never found out that his real name was Odin Lowe Jr. Figures.')

Relena Yuy

Duo Maxwell

Quatre Raberba Winner ('He fought so hard to be buried with the rest of us. I'm glad he won.')

Wufei Chang ('Hey Wufei, sorry I was so rotten. You really were a good friend')

Trowa Barton ('Ai shiteru,[4] Trowa. I always will.')

'So you guys knew that I'm the prophesized one. The One of Hope. I think I understand now. Thank you, my friends. Our enemies will fall, I promise. Every last one of them.'

_**Empty chairs at empty tables  
Where my friends will sing...**_

She slowly stood up and left the gravesite, finally at peace, knowing that she would see her friends...

**No more**

[1] Terran for 'grandmother'

[2] The music box is magic in that people dear to the listener, owned the music box before, and are dead can appear to sing the lullaby.

[3] I'm guessing that since Iria is Arabic, she's Muslim. Just a guess.

[4] Japanese for 'I love you'


End file.
